New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-17
AT HOME On THE CANAL.
TRAITS OF THE STURDY BoATMEN.

Ystween Pier No. 2 and Pier No. 10 OF the East
River there Ia always to be found shoai Oh eahai-
ho,ts with their snowy decks beating back the sun
eh,ne They come and they go they load and unload
or lie All through the long, lazy lay awaiting orders
They are hnded close together, like HOOK OF sheepi
20 that one can sometimes walk IRON pier 10 pier
across bridge Of boats and they carry population
that almost entities them to be considered hoauns
suburb OF New FORK The upper deck at the stern Is
protected by awning and IN the heat oil the any
women may sitting in easy chairs WIN tneu
sewing. while their children play aooat tneir iee''
The men, having nothing better to do, curl
nm in the shade and seep from hour 10 hour or medi
.tatiyely smoke Tho ieeks OF the boass iofn
children's playground and promenade "hcu 70 iieo
TO ell and Mrs Smith, of the Mary Jane, makes .
friendly call on Mrs. Jones' the Anna MARIA anu
An short though perhaps the pendulum swings slowly
and some hat monotonously, life moves On from nvi
to nc ur amid all the little amenities thar exist "i'A
walls OF brick and mortar g..
To one who has not all this, /" Home eweo'
Home ON a canalb boat may be hard fact to realize
INT 10, him GO down, as a TRIBUNE reporter ala inc
other day. aud stsp on board ne wiz NOT 10 Pc
vented He can wander over the whole aotiiia a' ms
will Their easy access to V's,tols "Aeo ,no :;
boats the happy hunting ground OF the pecier l.. Is
donbtfu whether the kindly boatman would slam the
door, even II he had one.
Ths first thing tbat strikes the reporter, pedler.
WANDERING minstrel or inquiringy disposal person. Is
the scrupulous cleanliness of everything and every
BODY, The decks, re. whitened each summer az tne
beginning of the busy season. positively glitter WIN
much scrubbng Take that the soles OF your feet
are clean or you viii stamp their size and Quad as
distinctly as Fridays footprint In the SAND OF Juan
Fernandez The women dressed like ladies, Tor II
"A time of leisure the children neat as the
petted Youngsters reared in down and on Brussels
carpets; and the men-but the men deserve SPECIAL
paragraph. ~.
GENT more industrious, thrifty more sober class
Of men in the United States than those who work on
fhe canal boats OF there are exceptions, as IN
every class. Many these men have known no other
life The the town gpath the song OF the drver
are their earliest recollectons They are. as rule,
,Eell-educated. How that education has been &C.
CURED they themselves best know! Hero little am
there q little the school-house OF "pot-hooSs anu
hangers" ciphers and syllabes. when the ice grips
the river and locks up the waterway; and IN summer
the schoolhouse OF the fresh air the woods ana the
water, and tho changing sky. That is probably tue
general experiences sort of patchwork education,
bat resulting in the fact that there are fewer terae
men among them than among the 1ongshore aporerr.
/ When a boat Is working tull-handed she generally
carries three men besides tie captain Of course the
captain is by the most important person ON board
He frequently tie boat he direets ana somctmes
possesses three. The little CABIN IN the stein,
of which glimpse from without reveals white cur
faips anu dainty furniture, devoted to him and his
family for the captains are, as rule, married men,
The captains wire is generally an attractive ana
thrifty woman and the captains daughter as often as
NOT pays the piano better than a boardnssehoo miss
Next to the captain comes the steersman, who takes
six-hour turns at the helm alternately with him.
1.-Two drivers guide the team in six-hear turns and
the team generally consists of four mules sometimes
horses work in pairs in sx-hour turns, even
"a their masters do. A great deal of care Is be-
slowed on the mules. The men sleep in the caDooss
at the bow, and they divided from the stable
only by n partition wall. The taken to preserve
cleanliness no xever, prevents them from being at
MI conyenienced by their proximity to it. Here is
talk which O TRIBUNE reporter had with typical
steersman tall broad end bravny. with blue, in
telligent eye, ana az intimate knowledge OF the
canals as a lifelong experience could give
q The canal-boat Is q big institution, said he IL
all the boats from all the canals would lay in one
,lace, reckon they would make big city. Why,
you know, there's the Erie and the Champlain and
the Oswego and the Black River nal-boats-though,
to be sure, the Black River. boats are small.
There's different builds of boats-the 'bulihead, the
sscow, and the 'laker The 'laker is esteemed the
best and there are lakers than any other sort
n SOn the Erie Canal we mostly take twelve days
between Buffalo and Eew-Yo-k, and don't stop except
for water and to change mules Coming down here,
we enter the river at Troy and leave . pair OF the
mules there to be picked up going back, az we have
only room on board for two at q time When We get
to the river and form fota with other ooats 10 %
flowed in that's when the fun begins We do lao
mles In this STYLE towed along fifty or sixty or eighty
boats at q time and i've abreast Lots vi boats come
out to us with lager, ice-cream and every kind OF
thing. When we get in and unloaded, and are wait
ing orders, have 1t very easy-scarcely anything
to do except eat and sleep.
:. Abort December the canal freezes bard and
then some of the hands that have saved their money
board through the winter some find work In the
lumber woods and that have been careful
enough have little homes of their own to go TO-
have little farm west, and my wife, who lives there
never saw q canal o canal-bost Some of the cap
tsins and their families remain on beard A good
many who own their boats have little farms and
these sometimes their boats in the Erie Basin
and 90 home but there's others whose only home Is
ON their boats. The horses and males are sent up
country to farmers, who graze them or work them
according to arrangement Sometimes captains have
to stay on board through having to hold the cargo
Grain il often held for the owners tor long
sixty days and sometimes longer. That's counted
good luck in the winter aud pays fair money.
Only the captain needs stay aboard for there isn't
anything more to be done than now when were lying
waiting orders"
sYou say some captains their boats 2"
f.sYes; good many; but must always builders and
sealpels in Buffalo have them by the neck"
aWhat do YOU by scslpers ]"
aWeii YOU ace enc of tbese boats costs as much as
ma. 500 or 4,OuO. You buy one through q scalper
by paying 81 900 $780, or Whatever sum Is agreed
on down to hhr, and engaging to mako the boat pay
keeps running up and expenses always to be met
and the scaper generally ooues out ahead
How do the boats payP
awe bsve what are called 'doublehesders now.
That's when two boats are run together. Then the
expenses are Just about the expeufe u one and the
returns about double. But taxing boat that runs
single, $500 or $500 IN the summer is good fail
season. There used to be time when boats paid
$1,000 OF 800 in the seeson-yes there used to be
time when il wasn't trick to turn 81 900 In four
months. | guess If all the grain these boats have
fetched to New York in the last years was put
together it would be the bisgest pile you ever SEEM
SHow does cana-boat lite compare now with W hat 4
was when you were boyP
II anything, it's better now The children AL g
<o the best of schools in the winter though OF
there's some Of them don't Incline to It, just a.
among other classes of children You know that
there's many raised in the city that's a. ignorant al
Every Sunday there is preaching for the eanal-bo